Totalizer



M r h 4, 3 E. MINER T'OTALIZER Filed Aug. 14, 1928 Patented Mar. 24,1931 PATENT OFFICE FLOYD E. MINER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS TOTALIZERApplication filed August 14, 1928. Serial No. 299,598.

My invention relates to totalizersand more particularly to totalizersapplicable to calculating machines, speedometers and the like, and hasfor its object the provision of an improved totalizer which is simple,positive,

inexpensive, and of minimum parts.

The main difliculty with devices of this type has heretofore been in thenumber of parts required to obtain true alignment of the numeral wheels.Usually the wheels of higher order lost their alignment inasmuch as nopositive look was provided which held the wheels at their advancedpositions over a long period of operation. This was particularly truewith totalizers of such instruments as speedometers, where mileage isaccumulated slowly and the wheels of higher order are gradually advancedwithout occasional resetting or adjustment to bring the Wheels back intotrue alignment.

An object of my invention resides, therefore, in the provision of simplemeans for positively locking the numeral wheels against rotation untilthe wheels of lower order have made a complete rotation. This isaccomplished by the simple arrangement of a driving gear on each wheelof lower or der, an advancing gear on each wheel of higher order, and athird gear non-rotatably mounted between adjacent wheels whereby eachdriving gear rotatably revolves about the advancing gear of the wheel ofnext higher order and about the adjacent third gear. As the wheel oflower order makes a complete rotation, its driving gear is lockedagainst rotation to rotate the advancing gear for advancing the wheel ofnext higher order.

Other objects of my invention will appear 0 in connection with thedescription hereinbelow and in the drawing which accompanies the same,in which drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view partly in section of a totalizermechanism embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a detailed sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Fig. 3 is a detailed view of the driving gear; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a third gear illustrating the positivelock provided to cooperate with the driving gear.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 10 indicates a frameprovided with vertical sides 11 and 12, in which is fixed a totalizershaft 13. Loosely mounted upon this totalizer shaft are a plurality ofunits, one unit for each denominational or decimal order. Each unitcomprises a numeral wheel 14, a driving gear 15, an advancing gear 16,and a fixed or third gear 17. These elements, to-wit, the numeral wheel14, driving gear 15, and advancing gear 16, are secured together andloosely mounted upon shaft 13, while third gear 17 is stationarilymounted or fixed to shaft 13 to prevent its rotation. Any suitable meansmay be provided to lock third gear 17 to shaft 13. I have shown,however, the usual form of key 18 formed on gear 17, which key 18 ofeach gear of the different units cooperates with a keyway 19 in shaft13. These units are placed adjacent to each other on shaft 13 with thethird gear 17 interposed between adjacent numeral wheels 14. Drivinggear 15 is suitably carried on pin 20 fixed to the numeral wheel 14 topermit the driving wheel to rotate thereon and to revolve with therotation of numeral wheel 14. Each driving gear 15 is arranged to meshwith advancing gear 16 of the unit of next higher order.

As illustrated in Figure l, advancing gear 16' of the next higher orderis in mesh with driving gear 15 of the lower order. The third gear 17 isalso in mesh with this driv mg gear 15. Numeral wheel 14 of thelowermost order is preferably driven by any suitable means through itsadvancing gear 16. Such driving means depends, of course, upon theadaptation or application of the totalizer. In the case of aspeedometer, the usual driver is attached so as properly to driveadvancing gear 16, which, as shown, may be made integral or otherwisesuitably fixed to numeral wheel 14. A hub 21 is provided on numeralwheel 14 on the side opposite to that of the advancing gear 16. Hub 21abuts against third gear 17 and provides for the reception of an offsetcamlike member 22 on third gear 17. Cam 22 is formed during the cuttingof we the teeth on this gear. A portion of the periphery of this gear isleft blank and then during the stamping operation is oifset slightly, asshown in Fig. 4. It is then upturned so as to provide a cam surface 23.As the driving gear 15 revolves by the rotation of numeral wheel let, itis in mesh with and revolves about the advancing gear 16. of the numeralwheel of next higher order and also with gear 17. As the numeralwheel 1dof lower order makes a complete rotation,"driving gear 15 engages camsurface 23, whereby it will be locked against its rotation on pin 20 andwill be caused to slide over the surface 23. This will rotate advancinggear 16 the length of this cam surface, which is equival nt to thedistance of two teeth, or one tenth of the rotative movement of theadvancing gear. It will be observed, therefore, that as numeral wheel 14makes a complete rotation, its driving gear 15 is temporarily lockedagainst rotation, so that continued revolving of this driving gear bythe numeral Wheel for the distance of two teeth will rotate theadvancing gear 16 of the Wheel of next higher order.

,In order to accomplish this action of the driving gear, namely, thelocking thereof against rotation, I propose to out a portion of one ofthe teeth 24 to provide space 25. Driving gear 15 at this space 25contacts with cam surface and readily slides thereover as the numeralwheel 14 rotates. The driv ng gear is'allowed to revolve withoutrotating,

which causes the loosely mounted numeral wheel of the next higher orderto rotate by reason of the fact that its advancing gear will.

be rotated by the driving gear.

The driving gear 15 remains in mesh. during its complete rotation aboutits axis by its numeral wheel 14, with the advancing gear of the nexthigher order. It is permitted to rotate as long as it remains in meshwith the teeth of the third gear 17 stationarily mounted or fixed toshaft 18. As soon as the gear at surface 25, formed by cutting away aportion of one of the teeth 24, contacts with cam surface 28, thisdriving gear slides over the cam surface inasmuch as it is lockedagainst rotation by the engagement of adjacent teeth '26 and 27 againstthis surface. These teeth 26 and 27 positively hold driving gear 15against such rotation, and in view of the latter not being in mesh withthird gear 17 at this moment the driving gear is permitted to continuemoving without rotating thereby rotating or advancing the advancing gear16 of the wheel of next higher order.

During the periodthe driving gear 15 is revolving by the rotation ofnumeral wheel I 14, it is rotating and revolving, at the same time, inmeshed relation with the advancinggear 16. It is therefore obvious thatthe numeral wheel of the next higher order carryingthis advancinggear'16 is-positively locked thereby against any rotation. It is obviouslyimpossible for this numeral wheel of the next higher order accidentallyto rotate and thereby become disali ned with the other numeral wheels.

I have provided an extremely simple form of totalizer maintaining truealignment of the numeral wheels during operation. The parts provided arefew and simple, inexpensive, andpositive in action.

It will be obvioustothose skilled in the art that various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofmy invention, and consequently I do notintend to be limited to thedetails shown or to the specific embodiment of the invention.

I claim:

.1. The combination numeral wheels, of a drive gear attached to a wheelof low numerical order, an advancing gear attached to the wheel of nexthigher order, said drive gear being in constant mesh with the-advancinggear of the wheel of next higher order, a third gear stationarilymounted to cause'said drive gear to rotatably revolve about itsadvancing. gear, and means to temporarily lock said drive gear againstrotationwhereby to rotate the advancing gear and etlect a carrying ofthe wheel of next higher order.

2. The combination with a plurality of numeral wheels, of means forpositively lock-' ing said wheel's against rotation until the wheels oflower ord-erhave made a substantially complete rotation comprising adriving gear on a Wheel of low numerical order, an advancing gearfixed-to rotate with the Wheel of next highest order, athird gearnon-rotatably mounted between adjacent wheels, said driving gear"rotatably revolving about the advancing gear fixed to the wheel of nexthigher order and about said adjacent thirdgear, and means associatedwith the third gear to temporarily lock the drive gear against rotationafter the wheel operating the drive gear has made a substantiallycomplete rotation whereby to rotate the advancing gear and to advancethe wheel of next I higher order.

3. The combination with a plurality of numeral wheels, of means forpositively looking said wheels against rotation until the wheels oflower order have made a substantially complete rotation, comprising adriving gear on a wheel, of low numerical order,

an advancing gear on the wheel of next highor order, a thirdgearstationarily mounted between the ad acent wheels, said driving gearrotatably revolving about the advancing gear of the wheel of next higherorder and about the adjacent third gear, and a cam on the third gear tolock the driving gear against radial rotation whereby continuedrevolving of the driving gear rotates the advancing gear to advance thewheel of next higher order.

4. The combination with a plurality of numeral wheels, of a driving gearon a wheel of low numerical order, an advancing gear on the wheel ofnext higher order, athird gear non-rotatably mounted between adjacentwheels to cause the cooperating drive gear to rotatably revolvethereabout and about the advancing gear of the next higher order, and ancit-set cam in the path of the driving gear for temporarily locking thelatter against rotation after the wheel of lower order has made asubstantially complete rotation whereby to rotate the advancing gear foradvancing the wheel of next higher order.

5. The combination with a plurality of numeral wheels, of a drive gearattached to a wheel of low numerical order, an advancing gear attachedto the wheel of next higher order, said drive gear being in constantmesh with the advancing gear of the wheel of next higher order, a thirdgear stationarily mounted between said wheels to cause said drive gearto rotatably revolve about its advancing gear, and means to temporarilylock said drive gear against rotation during a definite portion of thecomplete rotation 01": the

wheel of low order whereby to rotate the advancing gear and effect acarrying of the wheel of next higher order.

6. The combination with a plurality of numeral wheels,ot a driving gearon a wheel of v low numerical order, an advancing gear on the wheel ofnext higher order, a third gear having an oil-set cam portion in thepath of the driving gear, and non-rotatably mounted between adjacentwheels, the said drive gear being adapted rotatably to revolve about theadvancing gear and the stationary third gear whereby the wheel of nexthigher order is locked except for the time the drive gear is inengagement with the offset cam.

7. The combination with a plurality of numeral wheels, of a drive gearon a wheel of low numerical order, an advancing gear on the wheel ofnext higher order, a third gear having an oil-set cam portion in thepath of the drive gear and non-rotatably mounted between adjacent wheelsand being the same size as the said advancing wheel, the said drive gearbeing adapted rotatably to revolve about the advancing gear and thestationary gear and having a portion of one of its teeth cut away so asto engage with the said cam surface whereby to lock said drive gearagainst rotation and eflect a carrying of the wheel of next higherorder.

8. The combination with a plurality of numeral wheels, of a drive gearrotatably at tached to a wheel of low numerical order at a distance fromthe center of said wheel, an advancing gear fixedly attached tothe'wheel of next higher order, a third gear having scribed my name.

FLOYD E. MINER.

